What a Wonderfu Christmas Day

Hello All, and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to you ALL!!!
Our day has been very relaxing and enjoyable.  Luckily, we long ago established a pattern of enjoying opening gifts one at a time so we all see what's been received, and as each person is letting the others open up, they've got some time to checkout what they opened.  This year, it was a good 2 hours of gift opening, and we all had a great morning. 
I have been going pretty much non-stop for all of December, so once those gifts were opened and all the kids were off to try out their new things, I bailed and went to bed.  I even got a new computer, and there just wasn't another ounce of energy left to motivate me to stay up and set it up.  (My old computer died, so it worked out great --- HSN had an awsome deal, AND it's a touch screen like Jasons, AND I had no idea what to ask for this year.  Walaahhh ...yeah, spelled all wrong.... A Computer it is!)  Eventually I woke up to enjoy time with the family.  I rolled over a few times, enjoying the sounds of Randy messing around with his new Electric Guitar, and Curtis with his Electric Bass.  :o)  Talk about great sounds.  They've pulled out the "how to" books, and are both SO excited.  They were even more thrilled that they didn't ONLY get the guitars.  Guitar stands, sweaters, and lots and lots of books for the family.
All the kids loved their gifts, I CLEARLY love that I have a computer again, and even better, I managed to get Jason gifts that he did NOT know what he was getting and even loved.  Yesss, that is always a good feeling of sucess.
I need to go thru the camera, get pictures, and write a proper post.  I also need to update about my trip to my parents house in Colorado the start of the month.  I also need to say SORRY, no cards went out this year.  I didn't even get my gifts into the mail to arrive before Christmas.  So, outside of the house, I'm a big ol' slacker.  Not for a lack of heart OR effort, but all for a lack of energy.  We did however, between Jason and myself, manage to have ALL shopping AND wrapping completed before the afternoon of the 24th.  YIPPIE!!!  It was so nice to get everyone off to bed, including myself, by a decent time of night.

I really do hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas Day.  Our family is so very thankful for all of our family and friends that fill our lives :o).  May you all be blessed this beautiful day and always.
Love from us all.

Make it stop, I wanna get off....

Ever had a day where things just kept going and going and going and GOING AND GOING. If you stop you just KNOW you will NOT get going again, yet you can't seem to stop finding things that just NEED your attention.  Not later, not tomorrow, but ASAP. 
This is how my mind is viewing absolutly EVERYTHING right now.  I have at least one major thing every Thursday or Friday for too many weeks in a row, and I'm feeling the serious crunch kicking in for the next months worth of "big stuff".  Clearly Thanksgiving is THIS weeks big Thursday event.  We are hopefully having Grandpa Jim (former neighbor we've decided to just NEEDS to be part of our family...so we dropped the Mr and made him Grandpa). . . he's due to be here for our traditional meal.  I also got a great phone call from my brother Ken.  This is the brother next in line after me :o).  He recently transferred to the DC area for work, and things changed with friends for Thanksgiving, so WE get him instead!  The kids are THRILLED to know he's coming.  I'm excited to actually get someone from my family for the holiday.  I was feeling a tad bummed because my parents & sister as well as Mark & Tammy and their kids are all flying out to Utah to be with Frank & Lily and Phil & Shelli and all their kids...as well as Mom's side of the family, and any and all friends in the general area that can show up to the party they're planning for this Friday.  I mean, all that family and friends too, who in the world wants to be stuck in this quiet little area?
Actually, I'm so used to living too far away from anyone to do much, that I'm just bummed out at missing all the socializing.  Not so much the big meal preparation or anything like that.  Too much chaos for us right about now.

So, the thing is, next week I fly out to be with my parents for a couple weeks because my mom is having knee surgery.  So my brain is in overload trying to keep myself on track to find all the christmas stuff; figure out how to arrange the living room so there's a place for the tree; what gifts do we plan on ordering online that we'll need to do when the next money hits the bank; what bills need to be paid and gifts purchased at stores before I leave; do I need to re-schedule any appointments for kids that conflict with Jason new schedule he got today; do all the kids have the emergency numbers in their phones?  etc etc etc.  Gotta get laundry all caught up, and make sure the house is as clean AND Organized as I can get it.  This way I can relax and enjoy my Thanksgiving, and Jason and the kids can easily stay on track while I'm away.

The stress is worth it.  The work is worth it.  I'm thrilled I actually have kids old enough to leave behind with dad and that I am actually available to go out to help out my Mom.  She's been doing SO much for the family, flying here and there to help with many of her wonderfully adorable grandchildren.  It's time she had one of us there to help her so she could focus on her recovery knowing there's a set of extra hands to fill in.  Dad and Emily would have done everything and been okey-dokey, but Jason and I really felt strongly that at this point, my being there to help would aleviate extra stress.  They certainly don't need any extra stress.  Besides, I didn't even have to pay the bill alone.  It might be me physically going, but my brothers responded quickly when I asked if they could help with the ticket.  I wish my brothers really knew JUST how much it means to me that they were willing to help out.  That'll have to be a post on another day for my blog though.

As for the kids, they're all looking forward to a very relaxing and fun filled LOOOONNNNNGGG weekend.  They will be thankful for manythings, only part of which will be that I'm letting them have free video game time.  Normally they "pay" with the chore tokens they earn.  But, being a holiday, so long as they don't fight, they don't have to pay.  Just enjoy.

So, my brain is in overload from ALL the things I'm trying to keep straight.  I keep writing stuff down in hopes it'll let my brain off this crazy ride, but all that does is leave room for MORE thinking....ahhhhhhhgggggg.  So, I just put all my energy into getting the garage stuff done to make room for kids to play ('cause we can't HEAR them when they're playing out there.  Yesss, it's better then having a basement.!!)  Tomorrow I'll be forced to physically slow down for many hours while I take Jason in for some of his testing.  The insanity will soon start as he gets what feels like a million and one tests done to prepare for his med board.  I hope he'll be okay and not have TOO much while I'm away.  At least there is ONE thing I know he CAN remember.  He knows when he's having a not so good day, and if he shouldn't be driving due to headaches or stress or anxiety overload, then rescheduling appointments is ALWAYS an option.  If I didn't think he'd do that, I wouldn't leave.  Ahhh, but the best part is, he's FINALLY on a balance of meds that helps him sleep ALL night!!!  Peacefully even!  No sleepwalking, no crazy talking in his sleep, or tossing and turning.  No hiding in his closet to sleep.  He goes to bed, falls asleep, and even wakes up pretty easily.  No longer does it take an hour or 2 to shake off the groggy feelings.  YIPPIE!!  Not sure how long this will last before some sort of change will be needed, but I am SO thrilled that his trip to the Holliswood Hospital we SO very beneficial.
Well, it's very very late, and I've got to put on my drivers cap tomorrow rather early.  G-night all.

I need your comments so I can save your blog sites!!!

About a month ago, the family computer kicked the bucket.  Quite a frustrating feeling since it cost me nearly a thousand dollars less then 3 years ago.  It's not totally dead, but I'm not ready to spend a single penny to get it repaired. 
You see....I KNOW I've lost ALL my favorites.  ALL my crafting sites, new blog addresses, cool things I've found along the way over the last 6 or 7 months.  Ya know, you find the best blog because they left a comment on someone elses blog, so you save theirs and start to follow.  Well, now, I am starting all over. 

SO, got any blogs to recommend?  Do you want to make sure I have the chance to follow YOUR blog?  Better leave it in a comment.  I'm going to get smart at make sure I add it to my "blogs I follow" so I don't get stuck like this again. 

This is almost as bad as loosing your address book. 

Until I'm willing to get my computer repaired, I'll be kicking Jason off his computer on occasion, or waiting for that one in 8-23 times it takes for our old laptop to actually load correctly.  (That's been dying ever since jason brought it back from Iraq.  Eventually I will let it go into retirement, but BOY am I happy it still loads and works for us, even though it takes patient coaxing to get going the right way.)

Leave me your blog, and i shall do my best to follow.  :o)

Drivers Ed.

Okay, to anyone living in the general area...the drivers ed course just finished up the classroom portion and is now taking their turns ON THE ROAD!  Randy lucked out (thankfully after waiting a whole YEAR to even get IN to the class.) He is one of the first 2 to do their driving time.  Honestly, I'm quite happy there is a trained adult to teach the kids how to drive safely on the roads, and to stay patient with them.  As ready as we are for Randy to get his drivers licence....yes folks...we are ready, not fearful.  Don't know why we're fine with it, we just are.  Anyway, as ready as we are, and fully willing to have been the ones to teach him how to survive on the roads (after all, it's not like I'm teaching him to drive in Utah or Boston), it's nice to have that burden off our shoulders.  I'm sure we won't luck out this way with ALL the kids, but it's a good way to break us in with having a teenage driver in the family.  Working on it anyway.

So, beware of the "student driver" car.  It's on the roads for the next month I do believe before another classroom portion begins.  he he he.

Darned my computer

Well, I had JUST gotten some really great links to blogs I was loving to catch up on.  I planned on using last Saturday evening to update all the addresses of blogs I follow...when my computer died.  A friends hubby said it sounds like it's the hard drive.  Dang!  I didn't over use or abuse my computer.  No crazy virus.  Yet after less then 3 years, my super great computer crapped out on me. 

So, should you find yourself here, reading my never updated enough blog, and you have a blog of your own. ..
Please leave a comment and include your blog so I can update all my info and save it ON my blog, not IN my computer. 

Thankfully, we've got an old laptop that works every 3rd or 10th time you turn it on...lol.  Hey, it survived Iraq with Jason.  I'm amazed the computer even MADE it home thru all the sand and such.  I can use Jason's computer, but the kids are totally NO TOUCHIE!!  Literally, it's a touch screen computer.  lol.  No, seriously, Jason's computer is for his graphics and such.  I won't risk ANYTHING happening to his computer, ever.  So, kids are just bummin'.

Take Care all. :-)

What to say??....

I am really NOT very good at updating on a regular basis, am I?  Ooops. 

Well, the shrimping was a good idea, but we really need to find out the best time of year AND the best time of day during shrimp season to get a really good haul.  They all loved what they caught, and look forward to trying this again next year. 

The kids are all working really hard in school.  The last week or so we've all been worn out, so I think there's been a little slacking on their parts as well as ours to keep them on track.  We're trying to make the most of the next 3 weeks so they can all be truly happy when the report cards come home.  Actually, they have been working SO much harder then they usually do at the start of the year, that I'm really proud of the efforts they've put forth on their own behalves.

Randy has been the most active.  There are some days I literally have seen him less then an hour.  That's normal for alot of families that have a junior in high school, but for us, we've tried to keep the schedule more open to study, sleep, and have family time.  Now, Randy is at marching band practice or at a performance or at a competition.  He also just started drivers ed classes.  --NOT to worry, he's only doing classroom right now.  I'll try to remember to send out fair warning when the class moves to the road.  lol.  With all the teens on base, Randy's done alot of babysitting, and just yesterday got his first call for a job interview.  Depending on how it goes, he'll have a tough time giving up marching band for a paying job, but that's his plan.  He wants to establish a job history before we move again.  I'm glad he's showing signs of making decisions with his future in mind, not just today's fun.

Curtis is really enjoying High School.  He's made a few really good friends around here, so he's been spending more time hangin' out at their homes or ours. He's been much better at staying on task at school so he can have more free time after school.  Wow! A responsible high school freshman.  I didn't think one of those would come from MY house.  LOL.  Kidding. ;o) ...sort of...\

Robbie is loving 7th grade so far.  She still stresses too much over her grades to the point she was talking about homework assignments in her sleep last week.  Gotta do pages 50 and 51 odd numbers only...read these pages,...blah blah blah.  Oh boy, I'm glad she's determined, but I need that anxiety level to go down.  I'd rather have all C's out of her but for her to be able to relax.  Balance is what she is working on.   Besides all that, she has a whole slew of girlfriends in the area that are constantly coming over to hang out.  :o). 

Can I just say, I love that the kids friends like being at our house.  The other day, I was trying to take a nap.  I kept hearing kids, but knew Jason had everyone under control.  When I got up, there were 6 kids in the house that were NOT ours. That is after the other 7 or 8 left.  YES!! We've achieved "the cool house" status.  LOL.

Craigan and Zacky have both been doing really well.  Craigan's mostly been lying low, keeping life simple, reading and loving taking care of his betta fish.  Zyzax's arm is doing better.  His bone is healing, but not enough to be out of a cast like we had hoped for.  He is thrilled to have gotten out of a full cast, and now to have only a half cast, right to his elbow.  He's SO glad.  Probably another 10 days till he gets that off.  Guess we'll see.

Jason left yesterday for his new inpatient treatment.  I finally got to talk to him tonight, and so far so good.  A good impression of the facility so far, so he's still doig his best to stay positive that this will be a beneficial experience.  He's determined to get help "organizing his mental garage of clutter".  I'm determined to keep life as unchanged as possible here so the kids don't miss him too much, and to keep myself from worrying about him.  I can't say I won't miss him, because that starts before I even say the final see ya at the airport.

I'm still trying to figure out how to defeat my own depression and mental exhaustion.  I haven't had the desire to sew enough to even try to get out my machine ever since we moved back in June.  There are only so many moves and so many times I can try to get myself and the family set up before even I get worn out.  I haven't cross-stitched or crocheted more then a couple hours worth since then either.  However, I've learned that I enjoy reading christian fiction books. I have managed to blast thru quite a few in the last few months.  Hopefully getting a few really good nights of sleep will help me work on getting back into my drive and determination mode.  I want to get in the mood to finish up the garage, take at least a little time to sew, and to help the kids resort their clothes now that they've all gone thru a growth spurt. Aren't you all just wishing you were in my shoes to WANT to do these things.  Yes folks, besides crafts, those are the things I enjoy...sorting and organizing.  The more purging the better. (the less I need to have packed for the NEXT move.  ahh, gotta think ahead.)

So, I think that covers it for now.  I know I need to post pictures from birthdays and such, if I remember too.  Or just do better about regularly updating so I don't keep missing huge chunks of time.

Take Care all!

The Shrimpin’ was fun!

We had never ever thought of going out to catch our own shrimp before.  Then, yesterday, our home teacher and his wife came over to visit.  They told us it's shrimp season, where to go, and HOW to catch’em. 

Seeing I’ve got 3 out of the 7 family members in this house that are ADDICTED to Shrimp, it is TOTALLY worth it to give this a shot.  Today, Jason and I went out to the exchange to see just how much it’d cost to get a casting net (only way I could remember the name…to me it sounded like the Kehr’s had said “castanets.”  LOL. pathetic, I know, but it worked to remember.)  So, the casting nets started at $35 and working up to the $60 range for something we had NO idea about and were attempting to do, yes? no? do we really want to try this? hmmmm.  Robbie got home from school just before we returned from our little trip to the exchange, and we had texted her to tell her what we were up to.  She called us to beg if we could go TODAY. Please oh PLEASE oh puuuhhhhhhllllllllleeeeeeezzzzzzz!!!!!  It was too funny.  We pulled up into the driveway, and I traded out for Robbie.  I sent her and Jason off to Walmart to see if they had anything lower priced for us shrimping beginners, and I stayed home to wait for all the other kids to get home from school, and get some laundry done.  {Honestly now, is the laundry EVER done??}

They returned with a casting net, another net on a pole, and LOTS of excited energy to take off and try this all out.  I had cut the back yard – YEAH, finally enough grass to have it be worth pulling out the lawnmower –and had sent Curtis to do our neighbors too since we had our mower out.  He was weed whacking, and still needed to finish fixing his bike.  Randy was off at marching band practice, and Craigan and Zac were just being tired and difficult.  So I kissed them both, told them good luck, and sent Jason and Robbie off to try this whole shrimping thing out.  Since they’re the ones that’ll eat most of the take, if THEY like it, it would be worth making a family event out of it to get more.

OH they had FUN!  It was exhausting, but they were both home a couple hours later with great big smiles on their faces, and about 3 lbs of shrimp, with some tiny fishes that snuck thru.  Apparently, they caught an entire net FULL of the tiny fishes the first casting, and threw them up to the seagulls and tossed the rest back in. 

So they cleaned them and everyone checked out real live FRESH Shrimp.  A few kept jumping out into the sink. It was pretty funny.

 

Then it was time to cook them up. 

They were SO happy with what they had to show for their work for today.  They couldn’t wait to get to EAT it. 

Ahh, but first Jason needed to teach the kids how they prep the now cooked shrimp.  All his years in restaurants, the catching was the only part he needed to learn.   

 

 

 

 

 

Robbie was right in there. Afraid of nothing and REALLY hungry at this point in time. After all the work, our friends called and told us about a great kitchen gadget to get to clean all the icks and yucks out of the shrimp.  Still, seeing Jason do it all by hand, the kids were all VERY impressed. :o)

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Jason’s favorite part about all the cleaning of the shrimp was actually NOT about the shrimp.  It’s when he went to chop up the little fishies for our cats to try.  Now, some of you may or may not know, that I am NOT big on seafood (yeah yeah, grew up in New England and I don’t eat seafood.  shoot me now), and REALLY NOT big on prepping food with bones in it.  I have gotten over it enough that I can finally prepare and even eat chicken on the bone, pork chops, etc, but I much prefer NOT including the bones.  Gives me the willies BIG time.  Also, I tend to have a REALLY strong stomach.  Other people around me get sick, and I can handle the smell, clean up, all that gross stuff.  Jason, on the other hand, can be pushed to throw up just by talking about it too much, or hearing someone gag.  All the tough guy stuff about him, and that’s the thing that gets him. Poor guy.

What IS it that the prepping of the little fishies was Jason’s favorite part of the night??  Favorite ALMOST EVEN to the EATING of those wonderful shrimp he and Robbie caught???  It was MY reaction to his prepping of the fish.  He cut one, I started to look away.  Made the second cut, and I felt my entire throat clench up and my stomach working VERY quickly to try and turn itself inside out via the center of my throat.  In the last 15 years we’ve known each other, Jason has NEVER seen me react to ANYTHING that made me gag, leave the room VERY fast, and STILL nearly throw up just at the thought of what I just saw.  (even writing this story is making my throat ache…yuck.)  So, I’m happy to have provided a great deal of laughter to my family this evening as they witnessed just what it WOULD take to make Mom gag BIG TIME.  LOL. 

I never ate the shrimp, but BOY where they gone FAST.  Now the plan is to get really good at this whole shrimping thing as a family, go out as often as we can, and stock the freezer up BIG TIME. 

YAY for good friends that taught us something new :o)!!!!!!